


Dennis' Double Meltdown

by zum



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Autistic Dennis Reynolds, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 17:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10195634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zum/pseuds/zum
Summary: It's not actually a double meltdown. It's just one meltdown in the room with the dildo bike.





	

**Author's Note:**

> mild warnings for internalized disablism 
> 
> spoilers for dennis' double life

Everything about this apartment made Dennis’ skin crawl. Mandy had just shown up right when their apartment was fixed and the baby thing and the child thing and the Dad thing and all of it just kept happening no matter how many times he’d shut his eyes, and now there was this fucking thing to deal with.

Mac was doing everything that Dennis knew he would do when their apartment was fixed. Mac had agonized over every detail, made sure it was spotless, talked to renovators and decorators and had apparently hunted down every single object he could remember. Copies. Mandy came in and Mac wanted to pretend to date. Mac wanted someone to fuck in his fantasies, some sex slave he could use and then be emotionally connected to, but Mac wanted it to be Dennis.

Brian Jr. wanted a dad. Mac wanted a lover. Dennis couldn’t be either one.

“This is fucking creepy!” Dennis called from Mac’s old room. There was nothing in the room but the fucking dildo bike and a bunch of towels and two shirts on the ground, one of which was Dennis’ old one. Mac’s old room had the old mattress with its weird stains, no sheets, and all the crucifixes had been weird enough, but Mac wasn’t there half the time and Mac didn’t care about it so Dennis never made it an issue. Why would he? The rest of the apartment was his. Now, the apartment was all Mac’s. They’d spent a year with Dee and lost every ounce of their independence. They’d lived in a tiny room that wasn’t theirs with two other people and all of their boundaries had been removed, but this was worse. It wasn’t no boundaries. It just crossed so fucking many of them.

Dennis beat his fists against his thighs and pulled at his hair and started to knocked on the door, loudly. The world swam and the noise of the cars rushing by and the ticking of the old clock and their neighbor’s TV was incomprehensible and unbearable. Dennis could hear Mac’s voice and then Mandy’s voice and then the assurance that everything was fine, it was fine, but maybe they could stay at a hotel tonight? A fancy one, a fancy one. The conversation faded in and out as color burst in his eyes painfully and he started to moan. Dennis heard the cab outside. He huddled into the corner and beat his head against the wall and his fists and when Mac opened the door that Dennis had apparently forgot to lock, concern all over his face, Dennis flinched and the sobs and screams started at full volume as he tried to curl up further into the corner. Dennis slumped down and sat with his hands over his head and his knees drawn in, continuing to bang his head on the wall unhappily.

Mac sat next to Dennis and didn’t say anything. He got up once to get a glass of water that he set down in front of Dennis. When Dennis finally uncurled, Mac waited one second before saying something.

“… Was your meltdown about Mandy or…”

“You,” Dennis spat.

“Okay. Do you want me to leave you—“

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Mac got up, but he hung around in the door frame a moment. He looked like he was about to say something else, but Dennis put his hands over his ears and Mac got the hint.

Hours later, Dennis was still oversensitive to the sounds of his body tossing and turning. His own heartbeat pattered uncomfortably in his ribs. The car sounds were so much. Trying to think of anything else (Mandy, Brian Jr., the bar, Mac, the apartment) were still so much worse that Dennis felt trapped. Every so often, an unhappy moan escaped him unbidden. At least Mac had gotten Mandy and Brian Jr. out before his meltdown had been too obvious. What would Mandy think? The thought of having Mandy not want Dennis to have a relationship with his son because of that… No. Dennis would think of something else. Dennis could pretend to be gay or dead or poor, but he couldn’t say he was…

After hours and hours of sitting there, restless, trying to sleep, Dennis got up and left Mac’s old room to find Mac still on the couch, also awake. Mac said nothing as Dennis unceremoniously lay down next to him, on top of Mac’s blanket.

“… Sorry, dude.”

Dennis nodded, turned away from him, and, eventually, managed to sleep.


End file.
